At a Dream
by Yami White Rain
Summary: [inosaku, one shot] Sakura was wearing a ribbon in her hair.


At a Dream

By: (Yami) White Rain

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

-

Sakura was wearing a ribbon in her hair.

It rattled Ino for a long moment before she pushed it away twisted her lips into something that wasn't quite a smile or smirk at Sakura.

"Are you ready?" Ino said, and paused, 'forehead girl' at the tip of her tongue. For some reason, she couldn't bring herself to tease Sakura.

That she didn't say it didn't stop the fact that something weighed heavily between the two of them as Sakura nodded curtly and the two of them walked towards the festival together.

Something that Ino couldn't pinpoint.

Or wouldn't.

-

The evening air was warm and the sun was setting.

The two girls were walking down the main area of the festival. There was much laughter and the sound of children running around and shouting was probably loud enough to be heard across the entire fire nation.

However, the only thing Ino could really hear was the silence between the two of them.

And the only thing that Ino cared to look at was Sakura, and the lackluster way she walked and the frown on her face.

It was almost as if Ino had sucked all of Sakura's energy, and she could feel the Sakura's energy buzzing throughout her body. Ino had taken to tapping her fingers gently on her legs to try and focus the usual amount of energy she had.

It didn't take too long for Sakura to notice Ino looking at her.

She gave Ino a smile that was much too big, too bright, too forced and she said in a voice that matched her fake smile, "Look, Ino." She pointed to a booth a few yards away. "There's a fortune teller over there. Let's go."

Ino nodded wordlessly, because she couldn't seem to form any words. It was a feeling she wasn't used to, a feeling she didn't like, because she should always be able to be on her toes. But she wasn't able to really figure out the uneasy feeling that was coursing between the two of them.

If Ino took a step back and thought about it, she'd realize that Sakura was the person who seemed to get under her skin the easiest. Sakura was the person someone she knew the most without really knowing her.

-

Inside the booth, it was dark as moonless night; except for the light that glowed from the crystal ball from the table in middle of the room.

Ino was very aware of how close Sakura was to her when they walked into the room together and was even more aware of Sakura's steady breathing.

"Welcome," came a creaky voice as the girls sat down.

Ino could just make out the face of an old woman, whose head was covered in a shimmering, blue shawl. A few locks of gray hair fell down her shoulder and there was a creepy smile on her face.

Ino wasn't frightened, exactly, as she was a ninja and had faced much scarier things in her life. She just wouldn't have taunted Sakura if Sakura said they should leave.

"Who first?" The woman said.

"Me," Sakura said. Her eyes were glued to the crystal ball in front of them and her voice had taken a hard tone.

Ino shivered for some reason.

The woman set her hand, sickly pale, on the crystal ball and muttered something Ino couldn't make out under her breath. Inside the ball, white smoke swirled around for several minutes.

Sakura and Ino's eyes were fixated on it as the gray smoke began to clear within the ball.

Suddenly there was a loud bang, like a door slamming, and Ino's head shot up and she turned around. The door to the room was closed and there was no sign that it had recently been opened. Ino clenched her fists and turned back to Sakura, who was staring at the ball as if her life depended on it.

The woman was just smiling down at the ball.

It was as if Ino was the only one who heard anything.

Still, she couldn't brush it off for some reason. She felt chills go down her spine as she looked at the door again, and then back at Sakura. Something was nagging at her, telling her that they should leave right now, that something was wrong.

Throwing away her pride for the moment, Ino grabbed Sakura's wrist and hissed, "Let's go."

Sakura didn't seem to hear her. "Look."

Ino bit her lip and tugged at Sakura's harder. "Sakura, I - "

Ino's words were cut off by the woman's voice. "Look with her."

Ino found herself obeying, and, later when she thought about it, she wondered if she could have disobeyed the voice at all.

The images in the ball that captured Sakura so fully was her team. There was Kakashi; in the background reading a book. Naruto, who was pointing at Sasuke, clearly accusing him of something stupid. And Sakura was standing next to Sasuke and twitching and looking like she was about ready to hit Naruto hard on the head.

Instead of being pliant, like Ino suspected the woman had hoped her to be, the urge to leave that was crawling through her rose. Ino's fingers tightened around Sakura's wrist and she pulled, kicking Sakura's chair away.

Sakura fell into Ino's arms, and blinked several times. "Ino, I..."

The woman was still smiling at the two girls, and the light from the crystal ball highlighted the wrinkles. Ino shook her head slightly.

"Let's go, Sakura," Ino said firmly and added softly into Sakura's ear, "You can't save Sasuke-kun if you spend your time looking at a dream."

Sakura tensed slightly and squeezed her eyes shut. Ino suspected it was the only thing that was keeping her from crying.

Ino's fingers wound around the ribbon in Sakura's hair and she tugged it off, letting it fall on the ground.

Sakura looked down at the ribbon and said, her voice soft, "When we saw Sasuke-kun, I was so - "

Ino didn't let Sakura finish her sentence. She pushed Sakura off of her chest and pressed her finger on the other girl's forehead and said, her tone bordering on mocking, "Your forehead is so big because of that brain of yours. You're too smart to live in 'what ifs', aren't you?"

Sakura set one hand on her arm and looked away.

"Come on," Ino said, grabbing her wrist again and pulling her out of the dark booth and outside just in time to see the last of the yellow and red wisps of light from the setting sun disappear in time to get a clear view of the full moon.


End file.
